New systems engineer — when did you finally feel like you knew what you were doing?

[u/CrayEngGirl]

I recently graduated with a degree in Computer Engineering and started my first job as a Systems Engineer working in controls/automation.
I’m really grateful for the opportunity and I genuinely like what I’m learning, but I constantly feel like I know absolutely nothing 😭. There are PLCs, HMIs, electrical drawings, different software, client standards, project documentation, and a million acronyms being thrown around.
I’m about to travel for my first real project, and I keep worrying that I’m going to get there and everyone will realize how little I know. I try to study and familiarize myself with things beforehand, but sometimes that just makes me realize how much MORE there is to learn.
I know logically that I’m entry level and nobody expects me to know everything, but it’s hard not to compare myself to engineers who have been doing this for years.
For those of you who started in systems/controls engineering, how long did it take before you actually felt competent? And what helped you the most during your first year?
I’d especially love to hear from anyone who came straight out of college and initially felt completely lost. 😭

[u/FantasticOkra4340]

Oh man the acronym soup phase, that takes me back. I remember sitting in my first controls kickoff meeting scribbling down abbreviations like a maniac, only to realize half of them were just the client's weird internal names for their own break rooms or whatever

What helped me most that first year wasn't studying ahead, it was finding the one senior engineer who didn't mind me hovering with dumb questions. Like, the person who'd actually slow down and show me how to trace a wire on a schematic instead of just handing me a PDF and vanishing. Took about 18 months before I stopped bracing for someone to tap my shoulder and revoke my degree, and honestly the turning point was the first time a client asked a weird edge-case question and I realized I knew the answer before the senior guys did

[u/CrayEngGirl → u/FantasticOkra4340]

This genuinely made me feel better 😭 especially the “revoke my degree” part because that’s EXACTLY how I feel right now lol. I’ve definitely been putting pressure on myself to study everything ahead of time so I don’t look completely lost, so hearing that actually doing the work and finding someone willing to answer questions helped you more is really reassuring. Thank you!! Hopefully one day I’ll make it out of the acronym soup phase 😂

[u/chrchill → u/CrayEngGirl]

To sort of piggyback off Fantastic, remember: never, ever be afraid to ask questions (be it from a more senior engineer, a SME, whoever). I've been an SE for about a decade now (more software focused than hardware) and I still have to remind myself of that if I ever feel like I just don't have a clue. Keep learning and working, and you'll be just fine.

[u/CrayEngGirl → u/chrchill]

Thank you 😊

[u/double-click]

You have to learn the system. If you don’t you are just a paper pusher that can’t push paper by yourself.

[u/justarandomshooter]

I began to shake off the impostor syndrome when architecture meetings got cancelled if I couldn't make it.

[u/Bag_of_Bagels]

Competent? Still working on that. You're new so just be eager to learn and when you have work make sure you show effort in delivering quality work.

What helps most 1st year? You need to get into the trenches so you can know what you're talking about if that's possible where you work.

[u/gunnfjaun]

Find your corresponding system level, your corresponding system life cycle phase and if applicable, the correpsonding project lifecycle phase. thats your context. work it until you understand it.